Morgan The Freebooter And The Raid On Panama

During the seventeenth century the Spanish Main was beset with a horde of

freebooters or buccaneers, as they called themselves, to whose fierce

attacks the treasure-ships bound for Spain were constantly exposed, and

who did not hesitate to assail the strongholds of the Spaniards in quest

of plunder. They differed from pirates only in the fact that their

operations were confined to Spain and her colonies, no war giving warrant

to their atrocities. Most ferocious and most successful among these

worthies was Henry Morgan, a man of Welsh birth, who made his name dreaded

by his daring and cruelty throughout the New-World realms of Spain. The

most famous among the deeds of this rover of the seas was his capture of

the city of Panama, which we shall here describe.



On the 24th of October, 1670, there set sail from the island haunts of the

freebooters the greatest fleet which these lawless wretches had ever got

together. It consisted of thirty-seven ships, small and large, Morgan's

flag-ship, of thirty-two guns, being the largest, and flying the English

standard. The men had gathered from all the abiding-places of their

fraternity, eager to serve under so famous a leader as Morgan, and looking

for rich spoil under a man whose rule of conduct was, "Where the Spaniards

obstinately defend themselves there is something to take, and their best

fortified places are those which contain the most treasure."






THE CITY OF PANAMA.





Not until they reached the vicinity of the isthmus did Morgan announce to

his followers the plan he had conceived, which was to attack the important

and opulent city of Panama, in which he expected to find a vast wealth of

gold and silver. It was no trifling adventure. This city lay on the

Pacific side of the Isthmus of Panama, and could be reached only by a long

and toilsome land journey, the route well defended by nature and doubtless

by art, while not a man on board the fleet had ever trod the way thither.

To supply themselves with a guide the island of St. Catharine, where the

Spaniards confined their criminals, was attacked and taken, and three of

the convicts were selected for guides, under promise of liberty and

reward.



Panama was at that time one of the largest and wealthiest cities in

America. It contained some seven thousand houses, one-third the number

being large and handsome dwellings, many of them strongly built of stone

and richly furnished. Walls surrounded the city, which was well prepared

for defence. It was the emporium for the precious metals of Peru and

Mexico, two thousand mules being kept for the transportation of those rich

ores. It was also the seat of a great trade in negro slaves, for the

supply of Chili and Peru. The merchants of the place lived in great

opulence and the churches were magnificently adorned, the chief among them

being a handsome cathedral. Beautiful paintings and other costly works of

art ornamented the principal dwellings, and everything concurred to add to

the importance and beauty of the place.



A century earlier Sir Francis Drake had led his men near enough to Panama

to behold the distant sea from the top of a high tree. But he had

contented himself with waylaying and plundering a mule-train laden with

treasure, and in 1670 it seemed the act of madness for a horde of

freebooters to attack the city itself. Yet this was what the daring Morgan

designed to do.



The first thing to be done was to capture Fort St. Laurent, a strong place

on an almost inaccessible hill, near the banks of the Chagres River. Four

ships, with four hundred men, were sent against this fort, which was

vigorously defended by its garrison, but was taken at length by the

expedient of firing the palisades and buildings of the fort--composed of

light wood--by means of burning arrows. The assailants suffered heavily,

losing more than half their force, while of the garrison only twenty-four

were taken, many of the others having leaped from the walls into the

river, preferring death to capture by their ferocious foes. From the

prisoners it was learned that the people of Panama were not ignorant of

Morgan's purpose, and that the threatened city was defended by more than

three thousand men.



As the remainder of the fleet drew near, the freebooters, seeing the

English flag flying on the fort, manifested their joy by the depths of

their potations, getting so drunk, in fact, that they managed to run four

of the ships on the rocks at the mouth of the Chagres, among them the

admiral's ship. The crews and cargoes were saved, but the vessels were

total wrecks, much to Morgan's chagrin.



At length, on the 18th of January, 1671, the march on Panama actually

began, with a force of thirteen hundred picked men, five hundred being

left to garrison the fort and one hundred and fifty to seize some Spanish

vessels that were in the river. The means of conveyance being limited, and

the need of marching light important, a very small supply of provisions

was taken, it being expected to find an abundance on the route. But in

this the raiders were seriously at fault, the Spaniards fleeing with all

their cattle and cutting all the growing grain, so that the buccaneers

soon found themselves almost destitute of supplies.



The journey was made in boats up the river as far as practicable, five

small vessels carrying the artillery. At the end of the second day most of

the men were forced to abandon the boats and prosecute their journey on

foot. On the third day they found themselves in a marshy forest, which

they traversed with difficulty and reached the town of Cedro Bueno. Here

they had hoped to find food, but the place was deserted and not a scrap of

provisions left.



The affair was now growing very serious, all their food having been

consumed and they left in imminent danger of starvation. Many of them were

reduced to eat the leaves of the trees in their extremity. They found

themselves also benumbed with cold as they spent the night unsheltered on

the chilly river-bank. During the next day their route followed the

stream, the canoes being dragged along, or rowed where the water was of

sufficient depth. The Spaniards still carried away all food from the

country before them, the only things they found being some large sacks of

hides. These, in their extremity, were used as food, the leather being

scraped, beaten, and soaked in water, after which it was roasted. Even

then it could not be swallowed without the aid of copious draughts of

water.



Only the courage and determination of the chiefs induced the men to go on

under such severe privations. The fifth day's journey ended as badly as

the previous ones, the only food found being a little flour, fruit, and

wine, so small in quantity that Morgan had it distributed among the weaker

members of his troop, some of whom were so faint as to seem on the point

of death. For the rest of the men there was nothing to eat but leaves and

the grass of the meadows.



The feebler men were now put on board the boats, the stronger continuing

to travel by land, but very slowly, frequent rests being needed on account

of their great exhaustion. It seemed, indeed, as if the expedition would

have to be abandoned, when, to their delirious joy, they found a great

supply of maize, which the Spaniards by some oversight had abandoned in a

granary. Many of them, in their starving condition, devoured this grain

raw. Others roasted it wrapped in banana leaves. The supply was soon

exhausted, but for a time it gave new vigor to the famished men.



On the following day all the food they found was a sack of bread and some

cats and dogs, all of which were greedily devoured; and farther on, at the

town of Cruces, the head of navigation on the Chagres, a number of vessels

of wine were discovered. This they hastily drank, with the result that all

the drinkers fell ill and fancied they were poisoned. Their illness,

however, was merely the natural effect of hasty drinking in their

exhausted state, and soon left them.



At this point a number of the men were sent back with the boats to where

the ships had been left, the force that continued the march amounting to

eleven hundred. With these the journey proceeded, the principal adventure

being an attack by a large body of Indians, who opposed the invaders with

much valor, only retreating when their chief was killed.



About noon of the ninth day a steep hill was ascended, from whose summit,

to their delight, the buccaneers beheld the distant Pacific. But what gave

them much livelier joy was to see, in a valley below them, a great herd of

bulls, cows, horses, and asses, under the care of some Spaniards, who took

to flight the moment they saw the formidable force of invaders. Only an

utter lack of judgment, or the wildness of panic in the Spaniards, could

have induced them to leave this prey to their nearly starved foes. It was

an oversight which was to prove fatal to them. Then was the time to attack

instead of to feed their ruthless enemies.



The freebooters, faint with famine and fatigue, gained new strength at the

sight of the welcome herd of food animals. They rushed hastily down and

killed a large number of them, devouring the raw flesh with such a fury of

hunger that the blood ran in streams from their lips. What could not be

eaten was taken away to serve for a future supply. As yet Panama had not

been seen, but soon, from a hill-top, they discerned its distant towers.

The vision was hailed with the blare of trumpets and shouts of "victory!"

and the buccaneers encamped on the spot, resolved to attack the city the

next day.



The Spaniards, meanwhile, were not at rest. A troop of fifty horsemen was

sent to reconnoitre, and a second detachment occupied the passes, to

prevent the escape of the enemy in case of defeat. But the freebooters

were not disturbed in their camp, and were allowed a quiet night's rest

after their abundant meal of raw flesh.



The next day Morgan led his men against the city, skilfully avoiding the

main road, which was defended by batteries, and passing through a thick

and pathless wood. Two hours of this flanking march brought them in sight

of the Spanish forces, which were very numerous, consisting of four

regiments of the line and nearly three thousand other soldiers. They had

with them also a great herd of wild bulls under the charge of Indians and

negroes, from which much was hoped in the assault.



Morgan and his men were much discouraged by the multitude and military

array of their foes, but nothing remained for them but a desperate fight,

and, with two hundred of their best marksmen in front, they descended to

the broad plain on which the Spaniards awaited them. They had no sooner

reached it than the Spanish cavalry charged, while the bulls were driven

tumultuously upon them.



This carefully devised assault proved a disastrous failure. The horsemen

found themselves in marshy ground, where they were exposed to a hot and

well-directed fire, numbers of them falling before they could effect a

retreat. The charge of the bulls, on which so much reliance had been

placed, proved an equal failure, and with wild shouts the freebooters

advanced, firing rapidly and with an accuracy of aim that soon strewed the

ground with the dead.



The Spaniards, driven back by this impetuous charge, now turned the bulls

against the rear of their enemy. But many of these had been cattle-raisers

and knew well how to act against such a foe, driving them off with shouts

and the waving of colored flags and killing numbers of them. In the end,

after a battle of two hours' duration, the Spaniards, despite their great

superiority of numbers, were utterly defeated, a great many being killed

on the field and others in the panic of flight.



But the freebooters had lost heavily, and Panama, a city defended by walls

and forts, remained to be taken. Morgan knew that success depended on

taking instant advantage of the panic of the enemy, and he advanced

without delay against the town. It was strongly defended with artillery,

but the impetuous assault of the freebooters carried all before it, and

after a three hours' fight the city was in their hands.



The scenes that followed were marked by the most atrocious ferocity and

vandalism. The city was given up to indiscriminate pillage, attended by

outrages of every kind, and in the end was set on fire by Morgan's orders

and burned to the ground, much of its great wealth being utterly consumed

through the sheer instinct of destruction.



Fortunately for the people of Panama, the majority of them had sought

safety in flight, taking their women and all their portable wealth. In

pursuit of those that had fled by water Morgan sent out a well-manned

ship, which returned after a two days' cruise with three prizes. It also

brought back news that a large galleon, deeply laden with treasure in gold

and silver and carrying away the principal women of the town, with their

jewels, had escaped. It was poorly manned and defended and for days Morgan

made strenuous efforts to discover and capture it, but fortunately this

rich prize eluded his grasp.



For three weeks the freebooters occupied the site of the burned city, many

of them engaged in searching the ruins for gold and silver, while some,

who were discontented with the acts of their leader, conspired to seize

the largest ship in the harbor and start on a piratical cruise of their

own down the Pacific. This coming to Morgan's ears on the eve of its

execution, he defeated it by causing the main-mast of the ship to be cut

down, and afterwards by setting fire to all the ships in the harbor.



The return of the freebooters had its items of interest. The booty,

consisting of gold, silver, and jewels, was laden on a large number of

animals, beside which disconsolately walked six hundred prisoners, men,

women, and children, Morgan refusing them their liberty except on payment

of a ransom which they could not procure. Some of them succeeded in

obtaining the ransom on the march, but the majority were taken to Chagres.

From there they were sent in a ship to Porto Bello, a neighboring coast

town, Morgan threatening that place with destruction unless a heavy ransom

was sent him. The inhabitants sent word back that not a half-penny would

be paid, and that he might do what he pleased. What he pleased to do was

to carry out his threat of destroying the town.



The final outcome of this frightful raid remains to be told. It

demonstrated that Morgan was as faithless to his companions as he was

ferocious to his victims. On their way back from Panama he ordered that

every man should be searched and every article they had secreted be added

to the general store. To induce them to consent he offered himself to be

searched first. In the final division, however, of the spoil, which was

valued at four hundred and forty-three thousand two hundred pounds weight

of silver, he played the part of a traitor, many of the most precious

articles disappearing from the store and the bulk of the precious stones

especially being added by Morgan to his share.



This and other acts of the leader created such a hostile feeling among the

men that a mutiny was imminent, to avoid which Morgan secretly set sail

with his own and three other vessels, whose commanders had shared with him

in the unequal division of the spoil. The fury of the remaining

freebooters, on finding that they had been abandoned, was extreme, and

they determined to pursue and attack Morgan and his confederates, but lack

of provisions prevented them from carrying this into effect.



Meanwhile, events were taking place not much to the comfort of the

freebooting fraternity. An English ship-of-the-line arrived at Jamaica

with orders to bring home the governor to answer for the protection he had

given "these bloodthirsty and plundering rascals," while the governor who

succeeded him issued the severest orders against any future operations of

the freebooters.



From this time Morgan withdrew from his career of robbery, content to

enjoy the wealth which he had so cruelly and treacherously obtained. He

settled in Jamaica, where he was permitted to enjoy in security his

ill-gotten wealth. In fact, the British government showed its real

sentiment concerning his career by promoting him to high offices and

giving him the honor of knighthood. As a result this faithless and cruel

pirate bore during the remainder of his life the distinction of being

addressed as Sir Henry Morgan.